Extreme Metal – Reviews, Gigs, Interviews and more

Vreid/Windir/Ulcus & Posthum at The Underworld, London, 23.10.2014

A real treat was in store for the fans of WINDIR this year – VREID, the band founded by some of the remaining Windir members after Valfar’s untimely death, decided to tour Europe with their Sognametal tour. Included in their set were also ULCUS songs, the band that morphed into Windir.

Supporting this tour are Norwegians POSTHUM, Their gnarly, experimental, yet melodic black metal was the perfect opening band. They took the stage to an already good sized crowd – for a mid-week gig – at a rather early 7.30, and managed to put on a solid 45 minutes show. You can tell there are musicians at work who know what they’re doing, and the crowd certainly appreciated their offerings. Maybe a little bit too reserved at the beginning, they started to warm up towards the end, especially since a core of Norwegian fans were cheering them on very loudly. A band well worth checking out – their third album The Black Northern Ritual is just out on Indie Recordings.

There was an air of excitement at the Underworld – Windir songs live! – and VREID did not disappoint. For those who did not get a chance to see the original Windir lineup, this was like the holy grail of gigs. The Windir songs were sung by Valfar’s brother Vegard, who joined in with some of the other songs as well. They played some early Ulcus songs – nothing too remarkable – the Vreid songs are as usual strong and were well received and celebrated – the band deserves a larger crowd next time when they play on their own. However, tonight it was the all about Windir. What an atmosphere the band created – live even more powerful and emotional than on record. It felt like Valfar’s spirit was present. The band were interacting with the crowd, you could tell they were as happy as the audience with their performance.

Byrjing and Arntor, Ein Windir had me headbanging (and trying to take pictures at the same time), with shivers down my spine. When they closed with Journey To The End it was almost trance-like. Afterwards people said how emotional it was, and there may have even been the odd tear that was shed.